Goa’s lone company making organic fertilizer chugs on

With the government trying to set up clusters of organic
farms, Goa’s only bio-fertiliser unit Cosme Biotech Pvt. Ltd., is hoping for
turnaround in its fortunes. The plant
located in the verdant forests of Sarvona, Bicholim, is a modern production
facility designed as per international standards. However it operates in
isolation with few Goans aware of its existence. It is one of the few
certified, genuine, bio-fertiliser units in India but plays a marginal role in
boosting local agriculture.

Presently the company employees have their fingers
crossed for better times. They are hoping for clientele on the home turf
instead of seeking markets in other states. Being excluded from local
agricultural production is a sore point for the employees who find their
products finding takers in other states and working wonders.

The unit belongs to the Cosme Menezes group and markets
under the brand name Shubhodaya. Products are sold in Karnataka, Gujarat,
Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra. Sales are also to overseas markets
like Turkey, Myanmar and Kenya. In Goa however the company is notched zero
sales and unsuccessful in making its presence felt.

Sandesh Kamat Bambolkar, plant, in-charge and director,
gets talking on the difficulties of marketing in the state. He says that the
company is tried hard to get its products accepted locally but in vain.
Moreover government officials are also disinterested in their products despite
knowing of the benefits of organic fertilizers. Presently the company’s efforts
are on in Parra and Aldona where they have convinced about three farmers to try
out their products. “We are hopeful that
the experience of these farmers who are reporting higher yield will spread the word among others.”

LH Bhonsle, technical advisor, gets talking on the
manufacturing facility. He says that the bio-fertiliser the company makes is
fungus (mycorrhiza) based and growing the fungus is the most tricky and
complicated part of the production process. “The fungus requires a
contamination free environment. It requires a completely sterile atmosphere. If
the contamination is above 10 per cent then you lose the batch,” says
Bhonsle.

The plant has a manufacturing capacity of 2,000 tons a
year but actual production is much lower and depends on orders received from
customers. “Our products are sold throughout the year but peak demand is during
the kharif and rabi season when agriculture is in full swing across states,”
says Bambolkar.

He adds that, the bio-fertliser is suitable for all crops
including paddy, horticulture, groundnut, chillies, sugarcane , coffee, fruits,
etc. “Our certification is from an accredited certifying agency based in
Bangalore,” explains Bambolkar.

He reveals that, although the current emphasis is on
organic produce which fetch higher returns to framers, it is difficult to get
pure organic farm produce which is 100 per cent free of chemicals.

According to him, there are some farmers who do pure
organic farming and some do a mix of both but the bulk of the farming community
settles for nitrogen, phosphate and potassium which is the customary nutrient
for the Indian farming community. In Goa though the use of chemical fertilizers
ar relatively less but that is more due to insufficient agricultural production
and local farmers lack of interest in increasing productivity of the soil.

According to Bhonsle, the government needs to impose
restrictions on use of N-P-K because of their long-term damaging impact on the
soil. “European countries are strict about the usage of chemical fertilizers.
They discourage the usage of it and restrict its use. In India with the
fertilizer industry being extremely powerful in lobbying for itself there are
no such restrictions and farmers consider urea and N-P-K as their lifeline,” he
says. .

He rues that, the lobby of the fertilizer industry in
India discourages the use of natural nutrients. “The government needs to stop
incurring expenditure on fertilizer subsidy and instead subsidise
bio-fertliser. Chemical fertilizers suck nutrients from the soli and ultimately
do permanent damage.”

Bambolkar points out that, bio-fertilsers are also
cheaper in cost. “A farmer would needs five kg of bio-fertliser per one acre of
land, while the same area would require 50 kg of N-P-K.” he says.

The company’s technology is patented with TERI, Delhi.
About two-three companies in India use the same technology but since production
is complex and needs contamination free preparation there are few takers for
the technology.

Set up in 2006, Cosme Biotech currently employs about
25-odd employees who maintain a strict protocol on cleanliness on the premises.
The production process comprises, sterilization, media preparation, storage of
the media in the right temperature of -20 degrees Celsius, inoculation,
incubation and harvesting. The last stage is if dry-grinding of the VAM fungus
(vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza) to powder which is then mixed in the soil and
marketed.

“At every step of the production we undertake quality
control analysis and the sterility in the laboratory is maintained,” explains
Bambolkar. The fertilizer is sometimes mixed in fly ash instead of soil. The
fly-ash is sourced from cement manufacturing units.

“The agriculture department is planning to set up herbal
gardens. It is also planning for clusters of organic farms. All these
initiatives need organic fertlisers which can be sourced from us,” points out
Bhonsle. He explains that, their existing customers have never gone back to the
use of chemical fertilizers after using their

products.

“Natural fertlisers
need time to take effect. The results are not immediate. They need to be used
consistently for the benefits to be seen,” he says.

The company is the only surviving unit of the Cosme group
that in the past comprised three other units- Cosme Remedies, Menezes Pharma
and Cosme Pharma.

The bio-fertiliser industry in India is huge. However are
several who are spurious in quality and Cosme Biotech is among the few units
that manufactures through the VAM